How to Take Notes | Science-Based Strategies to Earn
Perfect Grades
Since the very beginning, I've spoken at great length about how space
repetition with active recall is a foundational component to achieving
stellar results in school. We've even gone over how to create good Anki
flashcards, which is rarely done properly, even by popular study experts.
But even more foundational is how to take good notes. I'll show you how
to do just that.
Taking good notes, whether from class or from your textbook, is nuanced
and messy. It's part of the reason I've pushed off talking about notetaking
for so long. Unlike many other components to studying, like memorization
techniques, notetaking doesn't naturally fall into a straightforward and
streamlined process. To consistently take useful notes, you'll need to be
adaptable with your approach, adjusting based on several variables, such
as the content you're learning, the lecturer who's teaching you, and a few
other factors. Let's get started.
First, What is the Purpose of Taking Notes?
This may seem obvious, but it's at this foundational question that many
students get tripped up. You should not be taking notes to copy verbatim
from the professor or textbook. This is the most common offense. Rather,
notes are a tool used to facilitate comprehension, memorization, and more
effective future studying. You can think of notetaking as two discrete
steps: process function and product function.
The process function refers to the fact that the act of taking notes while
listening to lecture improves your comprehension and retention,
regardless of whether you review those notes. The product function refers
to the ability to review the notes in the future and commit facts to
memory through rehearsal, organization, or elaboration.
With that in mind, how should we decide what type of device to use when
taking notes? Write on a notepad, and you lose much of the convenience
Perfect Grades
Since the very beginning, I've spoken at great length about how space
repetition with active recall is a foundational component to achieving
stellar results in school. We've even gone over how to create good Anki
flashcards, which is rarely done properly, even by popular study experts.
But even more foundational is how to take good notes. I'll show you how
to do just that.
Taking good notes, whether from class or from your textbook, is nuanced
and messy. It's part of the reason I've pushed off talking about notetaking
for so long. Unlike many other components to studying, like memorization
techniques, notetaking doesn't naturally fall into a straightforward and
streamlined process. To consistently take useful notes, you'll need to be
adaptable with your approach, adjusting based on several variables, such
as the content you're learning, the lecturer who's teaching you, and a few
other factors. Let's get started.
First, What is the Purpose of Taking Notes?
This may seem obvious, but it's at this foundational question that many
students get tripped up. You should not be taking notes to copy verbatim
from the professor or textbook. This is the most common offense. Rather,
notes are a tool used to facilitate comprehension, memorization, and more
effective future studying. You can think of notetaking as two discrete
steps: process function and product function.
The process function refers to the fact that the act of taking notes while
listening to lecture improves your comprehension and retention,
regardless of whether you review those notes. The product function refers
to the ability to review the notes in the future and commit facts to
memory through rehearsal, organization, or elaboration.
With that in mind, how should we decide what type of device to use when
taking notes? Write on a notepad, and you lose much of the convenience
